Invision App demonstrates new plugin Craft

NEW YORK – Imagine if you could prototype an app that allows you to put in a photo sample without downloading it; that’s how the new Invision product, Craft, works. Thinking of adding hot spots, you add in a url and Google Maps appear. And if you want to configure pop-ups in your prototype, it can also do that.

Last July 21, UX Prototyping NYC featured Invision’s new Craft, with Rocio Werner, product designer/UX Designer, WeSolv, explaining how it works at the offices of Lifion. She was joined by Simon B. Kirk, Business Development director at Invision and John Laberee, Business Development specialist, also at Invision.

InVision is now one of the world’s leading design playforms with such impressive client as Apple, Disney, IBM and Verizon, to name a few. Craft brings real data to your design but from the demo, it’s impressive to see how photos from a URL need not be downloaded for use if you are merely doing a prototype and need sample photos.

But what really is Craft? It’s a suite of plugins for Photoshop and Sketch that help streamline your design workflow by automating cumbersome actions and pulling in more realistic sample data. As explained by Sean Kinney, Craft consists of three tools:

Library: Generate a style guide inside of your Sketch file. It makes a new page with separate color palette, fonts, text styles and custom elements you can set up yourself. Share and sync the entire library with your team.

Data: Bring real text, images, JSON, and live web content to your prototype, helping make your prototypes feel real without spending time making mock data within the app.

You will need the Craft Manager, an Os X app in your toolbar panel. With this, you reportedly get instant access to all Craft plugins. This will be music to your ears. It is free. You only need to go to http://labs.invisionapp.com/craft and submit your email address so its team can provide you with a download link.

As for the versions of Photoshop and Sketch that it supports, you have to have PhotoshopCC 2014.1 and later or Sketch 3.7 and later